Hello again from Northern California. Hard to believe it’s already been three months since my last visit to the San Jose area. I’m back this week joining a number of other leaders from Indiana at the Forbes AgTech Summit in Salinas. Seeing this area again provides an opportunity to take stock of the progress we have made in recent months with our agribusiness initiative:
1. Joined AgriNovus Indiana and represented on the AgriNovus board of directors
2. Welcomed agribusiness partner Kelley Sheiss to the KEDCo team
3. Hosting ongoing series of events to bring together local leaders and build connections to state-level partners
4. Participating in events such as the Forbes AgTech Summit
5. Working with multiple companies considering opportunities to start or expand into our community
6. Welcoming agribusiness founders to our monthly entrepreneur meetup (3pm-5pm today at Mad Anthony’s in Warsaw!)
7. Serving on the executive team establishing a regional food and agricultural strategy
8. Developing a program to encourage entrepreneurs to start new ventures in our community
9. Partnering with K-12 and higher education leaders in our community
10. Building a menu of consultant services that agribusiness employers will be able to use (stay tuned for more details!)
The key is that we have such a great story to share about the agribusiness sector in Kosciusko County. I need to wrap up this column early (it’s 7:30am on the west coast!) to meet with a research & development firm considering a Midwest market. Our discussion won’t be about selling what could be in the future, but rather what is already happening in our community that they should be part of right now!
– Alan Tio
